Saturday, 22 December

02:00

Multiple severe thunderstorms hit the Australian state of New
South Wales, including capital Sydney on December 20, 2018,
dropping tennis ball-sized hail and causing huge damage. Emergency
service said it was the worst hailstorm to hit the city since 1999
while the......
Read more

21:41

.@natalie_barr spent a day on the water with @JulieBishopMP and
the first all-female, professional crew taking on the Sydney Hobart
Yacht Race! pic.twitter.com/etIpc3B2Ow Sunrise (@sunriseon7)
December 20, 2018

20:48

Greater Sydney's economy continued to add jobs at a
remarkable pace throughout 2018, with total employment up by a
rip-roaring 100,000.

That's more than a third of all the jobs created in
Australia on a net basis over that time.

The media is all about traffic congestion, light
rail delays, and easing house prices in the harbour city, but
meanwhile the unemployment rate quietly fell to just 3 per
cent in November 2018.

That's the lowest monthly figure on record for
Sydney.

On an annual average basis. Sydney's unemployment
rate is now only 4.3 per cent, while Melbourne has been the biggest
improver of recent times.

At the other end of the scale, the equivalent figure for Perth is
elevated 6.3 per cent.

Of course, these are backward-looking indicators,
but still those are some healthy results in the two largest capital
cities.

As the labour force grows there will be more
unemployed persons in absolute terms over time; but the latest ABS
figures showed that some inroads have been made here.

In fact the trend rate of unemployment is at the
lowest level in 7 years at 5.1 per cent, with the number of
unemployed persons down by -34,000 over the year to November 2018,
overwhelmingly driven by Victoria (-41,000), and New South Wales
(-9,000), offset by some increases elsewhere.

...

20:19

Indian mining giant Adani filed an application with the
Federal Court last week asking that a legal challenge to its
proposed Carmichael coalmine be thrown out, unless the Wangan and
Jagalingou Traditional Owners fronted up with $160,000 in potential
court fees within two weeks. On Tuesday, Federal Court Justice Alan
Robertson said that Adanis demand was

20:17

Beijing sees cyber espionage as necessary for Chinas national
progress and will not be ending the practice on current terms, an
expert said on Friday after the Justice Department announced
hacking charges against two Chinese nationals, said Michael Fuchs,
senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.

The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday charged against two
Chinese nationals of hacking in conjunction with the Chinese
government.

I think it is very fair to say that China sees this cyber
espionage for economic purposes as a necessary component of its
national strategy to grow economically and to become a more
powerful country, and that it is not going to stop at least not
with the current set of pressure that is being exerted by
the U.S. and others,
said Michael Fuchs, senior fellow at the Center for American
Progress, a think tank.

U.S. prosecutors charged the two Chinese citizens for their
involvement in a global hacking campaign to steal tech company
secrets and intellectual property. They were also accused of
stealing the personal information of more than 100,000 members of
the U.S. Navy, and were allegedly working with the Chinese
government.

...

20:01

Climate change has reached fever pitch again with more doom and
gloom being shouted at us each day. Two articles appeared in papers
I read this morning [a day or two ago]. The Australian
proclaimed Climate lowdown warns of no escape from rising heat and
The Advertiser, (always handy to have in case there is a
need to wrap up any old dead fish), had a full page expose titled
Feel the heat in large letters.

Both articles have their origin in the latest scaremongering by
the Bureau of Meteorology and the CSIRO. This is the fifth State of
the climate report and it tells us that we are going to fry/get
more storms/get acid seawater/be inundated by rising sea levels and
many other effects from the dreaded carbon dioxide.

I was interested in the doomsday graph that showed temperature
changes compared to the 1861-1900 mean. Apart from the fact that
average temperatures mean absolutely nothing, (read the paper by
Christopher Essex), and have been demonstrated to be constructed
from very sparse data, (see work by John McLean), I thought I would
see how long temperature records have been kept, particularly in
the period used as the baseline for all the drama.

The table below shows a sample of locations around the country
and the date that data collection began. It is not exhaustive but
interesting nonetheless.

[Editor, I cant line up the columns. The order of columns
is:]
Records start
Years to 1900
1861 to 1900
% of time

5 capital cities and Cairns all have some data in the period
1861 to 1900 but it is not continuous except for Melbourne and
Sydney. The rest have percentages ranging from 50 to 25 of the
period.

When the data years are compared with the actual years the
percentage of time with data is about 55%, but mostly concentrated
in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Hobart with a smattering from
Brisbane and cairns.

It is also interesting to note that places like Darwin, Alice
Springs, Perth and some regional places have no records until 1940
and later.

Anyone who has travelled a bit knows that the climate in Darwin
is very different to that in Hobart so to believe that there can be
an Australian climate requires a bit of gullibility and anyone
proclaiming that it is so is kidding us.

18:03

Heres a great new (to us) voice the six-piece James Edwyn &
The Borrowed Band. Elements of folk rock, soul and country collide
in this song that tumbles into a fine chorus before drifting back
out into more reflective verses and shades of The Felice Brothers.
The Glaswegian band released their second album High
Continue reading

17:41

Idle Joy from San Francisco recently released this gem of a
loose and ramshackle song that has one foot in the country and one
on the beach. Lets Just Go Surf will charm itself into your short
term memory with jangling guitars, a loping rhythm section and
lazy, catchy vocal melodies. It reminds us of
Continue reading

17:39

Changes to election funding and financial disclosure The
Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Funding and Disclosure
Reform) Act 2018 (the FAD Reform Act) received Royal Assent on 30
November 2018. Some changes have already come into effect while
others will come into effect on 1 January 2019. The FAD Reform
Act...

17:00

Welcome to The Weekend Quiz. The quiz tests
whether you have been paying attention or not to the blog posts
that I post. See how you go with the following questions. Your
results are only known to you and no records are retained.

1. Higher levels of taxation permit
the government to spend more.

TrueFalse

2. For nations facing strong terms of
trade (such as Australia), if the net exports boom is strong enough
to push the fiscal balance into surplus and the economy to full
employment then it is sensible for the government to accumulate the
surpluses in a sovereign fund to create more space for
non-inflationary spending in the future.

TrueFalse

3. The reason estimates of structural
fiscal deficits are to be treated with suspicion relates to the
fact that typically the associated estimates of potential GDP are
too optimistic.

The Communications, Community Engagement and Data Support
Officer (Maranguka Justice Reinvestment) works as part of a
multi-disciplinary team to provide communications and community
engagement support to the Project. This role works on a variety of
diverse projects as they arise to support a better understanding of
Maranguka amongst community members, services and other
stakeholders. The role will also provide data support to the
Project.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Community Engagement

Manage the planning and implementation of the community
engagement strategy

Work with stakeholders and community to create strong, trusted
relationships

Ensure that the community is part of the decision-making
process under the overarching strategy of Growing Our Kids Up Safe
Smart and Strong (see Organisational Environment below)

Maintain regular contact with community and Bourke Tribal
Council members, Journey to Healing Womens Group, Men of Bourke and
the Maranguka Youth Advisory Council.

Communications

Manage the planning and implementation of the communications
strategy

Develop and maintain post digital content (social media and
website)

Create communications support materials

Data Support

As part of this role, a data support will be offered. This will
involve working with the Community Data

Essential Criteria

Knowledge and appreciation of the cultural and social needs of
Aboriginal people combined with continuing respect and support for
Aboriginal cultural practices in dealing with clients, their
families, communities and staff

Proficient in Microsoft Office software Excel, Word and
Powerpoint

Flexible and able to work effectively under pressure-
demonstrated ability to manage varied and conflicting demands to
agreed standards and timelines

High level interpersonal, written and communication skills

Experience with website building and updating

Experience planning and implementing community engagement
strategies

Work with stakeholders and community to create strong, trusted
relationships

The ability to respond to a changing environment and working in
a small team including external consultants and part time
st...

16:08

The Operations Director is responsible for delivering the
outcomes identified through the Growing our Kids up Safe, Smart and
Strong strategy developed by the Bourke Tribal Council through the
management of the Maranguka Justice Reinvestment team (backbone
team) and the development of Maranguka to build a wrap around
service support to improve the lives of children, young people and
families living in Bourke.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Supporting the Executive Director

Management of the Maranguka Backbone Team

Ensure effective collaboration between services located in the
Maranguka Hub

Relationship Management

Change Management

Reporting on Strategy

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

Excellent people management skills

Relationship building and consultative skills with the ability
to negotiate and liaise with senior people in corporate, government
and community sectors

EXCLUSIVE: He is already regarded by many across Australia as a
bloviated, blubbering, racist, homophobic and sexist blowhard, but
it can now be revealed Nationals MP George Christensen is the
latest member of the federal government to be involved in a sleazy
scandal, with the AFP investigating the 'family values' politician
over his strangely regular travel to poverty-stricken south-east
Asian countries such as the Philippines.
[READ MORE]

14:53

Four people have lost their lives in the last
week on the NSW coast and Surf Life Saving NSW are reminding people
using all waterways to be on high alert over the coming days while
heatwave conditions are coinciding with Christmas holidays and
weeks as people hit the beach and waterways across the state.

The tragic drowning of three people at Coffs Harbour this week
has definitely spooked our surf lifesavers who will be on duty over
the Christmas break, said Surf Life Saving NSW CEO Steven
Pearce.

Big influxes of people descending on our beaches, coinciding
with some possible extreme hot weather next week is the perfect
storm unfortunately. Boxing Day and New Years Day are often the
busiest days of the year for our volunteers and this year looks
like no exception, said Steven Pearce.

The Christmas holiday period is already a really busy and
dangerous time and this year it will be exacerbated by heatwave
conditions when we also see huge numbers of people seek refuge from
the heat by heading to our beaches, lakes and rivers, the Bureau of
Meteorologys acting NSW/ACT Manager, Agata Imielska, said.

The hot weather combined with the spirit of the season is also
likely to see more people drinking and swimming, especially in the
period from Christmas to New Years Day.

Please take care and watch out for each other these holidays.
Swim between the flags, wear a lifejacket if youre out on the water
or rockfishing and dont overestimate your abilities, particularly
after a few drinks, said Steven Pearce.

Surf Life Saving volunteers and lifeguards will be on patrol
around the state throughout the holidays.

As the wild storms of the past week have highlighted, summer is
a volatile and sometimes dangerous period on the water and on the
land, but if people check the forecasts and watch the warnings they
can go a long way towards protecting themselves and their families.
We want to ensure everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday, Ms
Imielska added.

While this is one of the most enjoyable periods of the year for
many Australians, history has also proven it can be one of the most
dangerous.

14:26

By Binoy Kampmark | Dissident Voice | December 20, 2018 It has
been an ordinary year for universities in Australia. While the
National Tertiary Education Union pats itself on the back for
supposedly advancing the rights and pay of academics, several face
removal and castigation at the hands of university management.
Consumerism and pay are []

13:37

A study by the University of British Columbia (UBC) has found
that the use of psychedelic substances such as psilocybin (magic
mushrooms), LSD and mescaline are associated with a decreased
likelihood of antisocial criminal behaviour. [These results]
certainly highlight the need for further research into the
potentially beneficial effects of these stigmatized substances for
both

13:34

During the weekend of 8th to 9th September, JRNSW Youth
Ambassadors Trei Stewart, Beau Foster, Kobie Duncan and Mi-Kaisha
Masella, along with Champion Teela Reid travelled from Sydney to
Bourke on a learning trip to speak directly to Bourke community
members about Maranguka Justice Reinvestment.

To ensure the voices of young people are central in calls for
justice reinvestment, Just Reinvest NSW appointed Youth Ambassadors
who have represented Just Reinvest NSW at various events and
advocated for justice reinvestment across multiple platforms.
Current Just Reinvest NSW Youth Ambassadors are based in Sydney and
are from the Gamilaroi, Yuin, Wiradjuri, Wailwan,
Dharumbal and many other nations.

The Just Reinvest NSW Youth Ambassadors travelled to Bourke, to
learn as much as possible from the Bourke community and its young
people.

During their time in Bourke, the Youth Ambassadors met with
members of the Maranguka team: Alistair Ferguson, Executive
Director and Vivianne Prince, Backbone Coordinator, to gain a
deeper understanding of Maranguka Justice Reinvestment. They
attended the PCYC and played touch football, soccer, and basketball
with young people. They met with the Local Area Commander Greg
Moore, and heard about a different approach to policing. The Youth
Ambassadors also met with Aunty Dot Martin and learned about the
history of Bourke, visited the red dust around Mt Gundabooka, and
cuddled WIRES rescued kangaroos.

Hearing directly from Bourke community members about the
community-led work taking place in Bourke inspired them to continue
to advocate for justice reinvestment and to share what they had
learned with their own communities.

Prior to the trip the Youth Ambassadors did advocacy workshops
with Teela Reid and Mark Riboldi (CLCNSW) around their...

13:24

50% Australian music, half of that from Sydney. Thats FBi Radios
promise. In 2018 we kept that promise and then some.

This year, 66 of our top 100 artists are from Australia; 43 are
from Sydney. Six of the top ten acts are from Sydney and 5 of the
top ten are led by a woman. Make sure to check out our top
100 songs too. Where did youre faves land this year?

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever
(aus)

Tropical Fuck Storm (aus)

Empress Of (int)

Soccer Mom...

13:21

As with our
Most Played Artists of 2018, were proud to say that this
list goes well beyond our promise to deliver 50% Australian
music, with half of that from Sydney.

Out of the top 100, a massive 72 tracks are from Australian
artists, and 61 of those tracks are from Sydney including a
whopping 19 of the top 20! Check out the list below, listen along
and revel in the magic that was 2018 on FBi Radio.

The List

Slim Set Cooked (syd)

Slim Set Lazy (syd)

Otis Thomas Gina (syd)

Wallace Neverland (syd)

Odette Collide (syd)

Mike Akox Love Me (syd)

Channel Tres Controller (int)

Milan Ring Drifting (syd)

Freesouls Voodoo Child (syd)

Rita B Work (syd)

Concrete Lawn Come Bury Me
(syd)

Ultracrush Swimming (syd)

DIN Warm Up (syd)

Odette Take It To The Heart
(syd)

Neighbours Bubble (syd)

Wallace Pantone Home (syd)

...

12:43

Editors note: G5 called me on the 7th December
and told me that Bush Sr had been executed. This had not been
reported anywhere at that time. Now Beforeitsnews is reporting on
Military Tribunals to Begin January 2019 and that it will Not Be
Televised Via Mainstream Media! Also that George Bush Sr. was
Executed after Pleading Guilty to Numerous Crimes, and will exposed
during the Tribunals of his Co-Conspirators!

11:53

Having conceded that the decision to apply the least rigorous
environmental assessment to the proposed clearing of 2,000 ha
of native vegetation on Kingvale Station on the Cape York Peninsula
was not made lawfully the Morrison government snuck through a
new assessment for massive forest destruction in a Great Barrier
Reef catchment, just days out from Christmas.

After being ordered by the Federal Court to determine a new
assessment approach for the clearing of over 2,000 hectares of
native forest at Kingvale Station on Cape York Peninsula, the
Minister for the Environment, Melissa Price, yesterday resolved
that a decision can be made on preliminary documentation only.

Lowest assessment method

Preliminary documentation is one of the lowest forms of
assessment methods and hardly adequate for the scale of the
project, said Christine Carlisle, president of the Environment
Council of Central Queensland, the group that launched the
successful legal challenge to the Ministers original assessment
method.

This is an example of why Australia needs to strengthen our
environment laws, and appoint an independent Environmental
Protection Agency to supervise compliance with these laws.

The current laws are weak and a proposal to bulldoze native
vegetation in this sensitive area should have been declared
unacceptable in the very first instance.

Survival of reef in question

Kingvale Station is in a Great Barrier Reef catchment, and
sediment following the bulldozing will run into the Reef waters at
Princess Charlotte Bay. In order to protect the Great Barrier Reef,
at the very least the minister should require a full Environmental
Impact Assessment (EIS) of the whole proposal, she said.

The Reef is an international icon that can be seen from space,
and is the largest living organism on Earth. The very
survival of the Reef is threatened by climate change, and to be
adding insult to injury with sediment runoff is spelling doom for
this wonderful ecosystem. We should not allow the demise of the
Reef on our watch, said Ms Carlisle

The public now has 10 days to put in submissions on the revised
assessment approach for 2,000 ha of Reef catchment
deforestation. Having it released for comment a few days out
from Christmas when everyone is enjoying time with their family,
suggests the Morrison Government are avoiding scrutiny.

This news was uncovered the same day that The Queensland
Government released the Statewide Landcover and Trees Study (SLATS)
report, which re...

11:39

Five people and two companies will face criminal charges over
the deaths of two babies who were given nitrous oxide instead of
oxygen at Bankstown-Lidcombe hospital. Safe Work NSW intends to
criminally prosecute South West Local Health District, as well gas
installer Christopher Turner and his employer, medical supply
company BOC, which supplied the gas

10:39

The June quarter tends to be a quiet one for
population increase, but over the course of FY2018 estimated
population growth remained strong at 391,000 or +1.6 per cent,
despite a moderate slowing of visa processing and net overseas
migration.

Total births increased by 7,000 over the 2018 financial year,
mainly due to a jump in New South Wales, although there have been
processing lags and blips before.

In time this will set Australia up for its next property cycle as
apartment construction slows dramatically over the next few years,
but at the moment it's all about mortgage processing delays and
mechanical minutiae.

New migrants from overseas are now dominated by
young arrivals from China (83,000 in FY2018), India (67,000), and
other Asian countries, and less so by permanent migrants from New
Zealand, Britain, or other parts of Europe.

Of the 553,000 migrant arrivals in FY2018?
Overwhelmingly they still headed for Greater Sydney (179,000),
Melbourne (151,000), Brisbane (56,000), and Perth (48,000)
respectively, with other parts of south-east Queensland capturing a
fair chunk of the remainder.

The bulk of new migrants lie within the 18 to 34 years cohort, and
some 85.4 per cent now opt to reside in the capital cities, and
especially so Sydney (32.4 per cent) and Melbourne (27.3 per
cent).

Internal shiftology

There have, however, been some internal migration
shifts over FY2018.

Interstate migration to Queensland increased to the
highest level in a dozen years as incumbent Aussie residents moved
away from the crowded capitals for the more affordable Sunshine
State.

I'm hiding in that maroon line myself somewhere, albeit at the
nadir of the cycle some years back.

And while...

10:05

#UNGA formally endorses the Global Compact #ForMigration - for a
life of safety & dignity for all people on the move.
https://t.co/DI4BEQDni8 pic.twitter.com/vgMK6f6A80 United Nations
(@UN) December 19, 2018 Why the hell did we abstain from voting
against this monstrous agreement, now ratified by the UN General
Assembly? This...

09:31

As we reach the end of 2018, we can look back over the year and
see that in terms of the economy, the stability of the political
system, the threat of global warming and respect for human rights,
the world as a whole and Australia, have taken a step backwards.
This is only part of the story.

The year has also seen an important advance in the movement of
peoples to bring about major change for the better.

Photo from Reuters: Yellow Vests in Paris on 15
December

It means, that in the year ahead and beyond there are both
considerable risks and opportunities. The year is finishing with
another decline in the global economy, led by weakening position of
the United States. Share prices are down and this has spread around
the world. The American interest rate is about to be increased the
countrys Federal Reserve for the fourth time this year. Investment
in this economy is falling.

This does not mean that everything is going to collapse
tomorrow. It does however, show increasing volatility and rising
uncertainty about the future. There are underlying drivers.

Americas economy is no longer experiencing expansion in the real
economy. Many of the commodities used by Americans are imported,
and profit overall, is derived from the circulation of money. A big
decline in real wages, where more than 50 percent of the workforce
has been causalised, means that the opportunities for the domestic
market to grow are seriously limited.

Doing business on a big scale depends on government protection
and exploiting the global economy.

Almost zero interest rates assisted speeding up the circulation
of money for a time, provided the illusion of a growing economy,
allowed a little increase in consumption, and ensured higher
profits for some. But it seems that this year, it might have run
its course.

There is limited salvation in the global economy. It is
shrinking as well. Only the Chinese engine is keeping
it from being much worse.

For the United States economy,. relief is through the
exploitation of its spheres of influence. This is where Australia
comes in. Where is the profit here?

In part, it is through the export of minerals and fossil fuels.
Most important, is the circulation of money, especially through the
creation of personal debt, and trade in stocks, bonds and property.
The greatest proportion of mining and finance in Australia,
contrary...

08:29

Brad Norington writing in The Australian today. The left-leaning
GetUp activist group has received a $500,000 donation from an
Australian-based charity with foreign funding links that will be
used to help make climate change a hot button issue in next years
federal election. Less than a fortnight before new federal...

07:45

It has been an ordinary year for universities in Australia.
While the National Tertiary Education Union pats itself on the back
for supposedly advancing the rights and pay of academics, several
face removal and castigation at the hands of university
management. Consumerism and pay are the sort of quotidian
matters that interest the NTEU. Less interesting is the realm
of academic ideas and how they clash with the bureaucratic prisons
that have been built into universities.

At James Cook University, Peter Ridd was sacked on code of
conduct grounds applied with a delightful elasticity. He
claimed that it was for holding
views on climate change out of step with his colleagues, and
attacking the credibility of the Australian Institute of Marine
Science and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef
Studies. (The pettiness of such institutions knows no bounds:
Ridds knuckles were wrapped, for instance, for satirising,
trivialising or parodying the university.)

At the University of Sydney, Tim Anderson, a full time critic of
Western interventions in the Middle East and acquitted for ordering
the 1978 Sydney Hilton Hotel bombing, has been suspended pending
what would seem to be imminent sacking. Causing offense was
what mattered.

A cardinal rule applies in this case: Be suspicious of those who
use good behaviour as a criterion of policing, notably in an
environment where bad behaviour and dangerous ideas should hold
sway over meek bumbling and submissiveness. Be wary of the
demands to be vanilla and beige behind them lies administrative
venality and the dictates of compliance.

Such rubbery provisions as being civil or not causing offense
shield the weak, spineless and fraudulent and, most dangerously,
create the very same intolerable workplace that managers are
supposedly opposed to. Very importantly, such code of conduct
regulations are designed to immunise management from questions
about their behaviour and often daft directives, letting
institutions grow flabby with corruption. Inoculated, that
class thrives in its toxicity.

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor of JCU, Iain Gordon,
has drawn upon the usual stock nonsense defending the decision
regarding Ridd. The issue has never been about Peters right
to make statements its about how he has continually broken a code
of conduct that we would expect all our staff to stick to, to
create a safe, respectful professional workplace. The thrust
of this is simple: Never cause offense; be compliantly decent; be
cripplingly dull and go back to your homes in your suburbs living a
life unexamined. As an academic, you are mere...

07:31

If there's an award for the one supermarket we've frequented the
most this year, the gong has to go to Toko H2O. This Indonesian
shop has sustained us with snacks, emergency groceries and quick
dinners and lunches all year. Toko H20 is a mix of convenience
store, grocery supplies, travel agent and phone sales office. It's
a hub for Indonesians in Sydney for business and food
essentials.

06:27

Violence in Indonesias easternmost region of Papua has stalled a
massive infrastructure project that researchers have separately
warned may threaten the islands ecological health and the
livelihood of its residents. At least 17 construction people were
killed on a stretch of the Trans-Papua highway in Nduga district on
Dec. 2, with conflicting reports stating the victims were either
civilian works or members of the Indonesian military. The attack,
claimed by the National Liberation Army of West Papua (TPNBP),
followed the anniversary of West Papuas declaration of
independence, which was submitted and rejected on Dec. 1, 1961. The
Trans-Papua highway is the latest major development project by the
Indonesian government to come under scrutiny in the countrys half
of the island of New Guinea. While the government bills the
ambitious road as a lifeline of economic development for a long
impoverished region, many native Papuans see it as a means to more
quickly move troops around to quash uprisings while opening the
island for resource exploitation. Three major hotspots of
deforestation (in circled areas) are expected if the
Trans-Papuan Highway is constructed. Image courtesy of William
Laurance. Regardless of the motivation for the highway network, its
creation will almost certainly accelerate degradation of Papuas
forests and increase social conflicts, say researchers from James
Cook University in Australia in a report published earlier this
month. Weve assessed big development projects around the world, and
this is one of the most worrying in terms of its overall social,
economic and environmental

05:39

My name is Donald Elley of Bellingen, Mid-Coast New South Wales,
Australia. All articles on this site have been written by me. I am
a Christian writer, philosopher and teacher. I have a university
degree majoring in philosophy which I graduated with in 1979. I am
62 years old.

I have pastored many times in many places over 42 years, in
Australia and New Zealand, where I was born. I have been a lead
pastor and pioneered in many ways.

Today Im going to outline the qualifications for Christian
leaders, including worship leaders.

Titus
1New American
Standard Bible (NASB)

5 For this reason I left you in Crete, that
you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every
city as I directed you,...

The US justice department on Thursday charged two Chinese
nationals with conducting a global hacking campaign, in a
co-ordinated move with US allies designed to send a stark warning
to China to stop stealing technology around the world.

Rod Rosenstein, deputy attorney-general, and Christopher Wray,
the FBI director who earlier this year warned Congress about the
growing threat from Chinese espionage, unveiled the action which is
part of a new justice department China initiative aimed at tackling
rising Chinese cyber espionage.

Christopher Wray, left, and Rod Rosenstein

The threat is increasingly raising alarm bells from the US, UK
and Canada to Japan, New Zealand and Australia. In the UK, the
British government said Chinese state sponsored hackers had been
running one of the most significant and widespread cyber intrusions
against the UK and its allies, targeting trade secrets and
economies around the world.

The move to publicly attribute the two year campaign to a
hacking group known as APT10 is part of a co-ordinated push back by
the US and western allies against Beijing backed espionage and
intellectual property theft.

UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: These activities must
stop. Our message to governments prepared to enable these
activities is clear: together with our allies, we will expose your
actions.

Mr Rosenstein said the Chinese nationals were charged with
conspiracy to commit computer intrusion against dozens of companies
in the US and around the world.

He said they helped the Chinese government target and penetrate
managed service providers that store data on servers around the
world. It is unacceptable that we continue to uncover cyber crimes
by China, said Mr Rosenstein.

We want China to cease its illegal cyber activities. One
official familiar with the move told the Financial Times that it
would further demonstrate the depths that China has gone to in
their quest to cheat their way up the global economic ladder.

The action comes as the Trump administration steps up pressure
on China across the board. In addition to attempts to reduce its
trade deficit with China, the administration is increasing efforts
to tackle everything from the theft of intellectual p...

03:35

Allies including the U.K., Japan, and
Australia expected to issue statements supporting the U.S.
action

.

By Dustin Volz in
Washington and Josh Chin in
Beijing
The Wall Street Journal

Updated Dec. 20, 2018 9:52 a.m. ET

.

The U.S. Justice Department is expected to unseal criminal
charges Thursday against Chinese intelligence officers allegedly
tied to a persistent campaign to hack into technology-service
providers, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Trump administration will also formally accuse China of
violating a 2015 bilateral agreement under which both countries
vowed to not engage in state-sponsored hacking for economic gain,
people involved in the process said.

The moves mark the latest push by the Trump administration to
punish Beijing for its alleged cyberattacks on American
companies.

Several allied countries, including the U.K., Japan, and
Australia, are expected to issue statements supporting the action
by the U.S. government. Some of those countries have also seen
companies victimized by this cyber campaign, the people said.

Federal prosecutors are expected to allege that several of the
indicted individuals are affiliated with a bureau of the Ministry
of State Security, Chinas main intellige...

02:43

The Trump administration and more than a dozen international
allies are expected to call out Beijing on Thursday for what they
say are Chinas persistent efforts to steal other countries trade
secrets and advanced technologies and to compromise sensitive
government and corporate computers, according to Western
officials.

The unprecedented mass condemnation marks a significant effort
to hold China to account for its alleged malign acts. It represents
a growing consensus that Beijing is flouting international norms of
fair play to become the worlds predominant economic and
technological power.

The action comes as the U.S. Justice Department is expected to
unveil criminal charges against hackers affiliated with Chinas main
intelligence service who allegedly took part in a long-running
cyberspying campaign targeting U.S. and other countries
networks.

In this April 26, 2018, photo, visitors
stand in front of an electronic data display showing a map of China
at the Global Mobile Internet conference in Beijing. A
California-based security research firm said in July 2018, that it
found evidence that an elite Chinese government-linked hacking team
penetrated computer systems belonging to Cambodias election
commission, opposition leaders and media ahead of Cambodias July 29
elections. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

Sanctions related to the cyber economic espionage effort also
are expected to be announced. Also expected is a condemnation by
Trump administration officials of China for allegedly violating a
landmark 2015 pact to refrain from hacking for commercial gain.
Taking part in the administrations actions are...

02:29

The United States and about a dozen allies are expected on
Thursday to condemn China for efforts to steal other countries
trade secrets and technologies and to compromise government
computers, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Australia, Britain, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand
and Sweden are expected to be involved in the U.S. effort,
according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. Justice Department also is expected later on Thursday
to unveil criminal charges against hackers affiliated with Chinas
main intelligence service for an alleged cyber-spying campaign
targeting U.S. and other countries networks, according to the
source.

The Washington Post first reported the coming action on
Thursday.

The suspected hackers are expected to be charged with spying on
some of the worlds largest companies by hacking into technology
firms to which they outsource email, storage and other computing
tasks. The attacks began as early as 2017.

Cloudhopper is considered a major cyber threat by private-sector
cyber security researchers and government investigators because of
the scale of the intrusions.

Over the past several years, as companies around the globe have
sought to cut down information technology spending, they have
increasingly relied on outside contractors to store and transfer
their data.

When a managed service provider is hacked, it can
unintentionally provide attackers access to secondary victims who
are customers of that company and have their computer systems
connected to them, according to experts.

The timing of the action may further escalate tensions between
Washington and Beijing after the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the chief
financial officer of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei
Technologies, in Canada at the request of the United States.

The action also comes just weeks after the United States and
China agreed to talks aimed at resolving an ongoing trade dispute
that threatens global economic growth.

Reporting by Diane Bartz, Lisa
Lambert and Susan Heavey; Editing by Will Dunham

02:20

Allies including the U.K., Japan, and
Australia expected to issue statements supporting the U.S.
action

.

By Dustin Volz in
Washington and Josh Chin in
Beijing
The Wall Street Journal

Updated Dec. 20, 2018 9:52 a.m. ET

The U.S. Justice Department is expected to unseal criminal
charges Thursday against Chinese intelligence officers allegedly
tied to a persistent campaign to hack into technology-service
providers, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Trump administration will also formally accuse China of
violating a 2015 bilateral agreement under which both countries
vowed to not engage in state-sponsored hacking for economic gain,
people involved in the process said.

The moves mark the latest push by the Trump administration to
punish Beijing for its alleged cyberattacks on American
companies.

Several allied countries, including the U.K., Japan, and
Australia, are expected to issue statements supporting the action
by the U.S. government. Some of those countries have also seen
companies victimized by this cyber campaign, the people said.

02:02

I am writing to you today to respectfully and kindly request
that you stop dicking around and start presenting a truly
progressive vision for Australia.

It has come to my attention in recent times, say for the last 20
years, that your party has been offering itself as the gluten-free
alternative to the Liberals: less toxic but more insipid.

It turns out that people dont really like gluten-free bread but
will eat it if they think its their only option.

And despite losing in 1998, 2001, 2004, 2013 and 2016 with this
approach, while winning in 2007 with what at least seemed like
something different, you persist with the political equivalent of a
white rice, mashed potato, gluten-free white bread sandwich.

And yes, the Liberal Party has made us all sick, but the road to
long term health is not paved with colourless starch.

00:56

Despite reaching out to authorities repeatedly such as the
Justice Department, the FBI (where I went in person to their
Seattle office), and countless police- I have never recieved ANY
follow up or any investigations.

Instead I have only been attacked by those who have had a public
connection to Satanism- who have done their best to make everything
about me to keep scrutiny off my family.

My family was involved with child trafficking in Omaha in the
80s. And it extended further than the Franklin Credit Scandal.

For YEARS afterwards.

Rusty Nelson- a convicted pedophile caught up with Franklin-
always spoke about a second photographer being involved.

That second photographer was my brother- Stephen Wesley
Shurter.

Frank Church- head of the Church Committee that investigated
MKUltra- had his profile picture by my brother. In fact it was my
brothers one claim to fame.

My brothers stash of Satanic child porn was confiscated in Ocean
City, Maryland two years after his death in the possession of Larry
King Jr.- not the same man who was involved with Franklin.

The Satanists fighting me claim that these are lies- while doing
their best to vilify me.

But then the most well known Satanist is Doug Mesner aka Satanic
Temples founder Lucien Greaves whos Co founder Shane Bugbee claims
is connected to the CIA.

Considering the intense attacks against me- and the fact nothing
I have reported for the past 13 yrs has been investigated- I have
pretty much concluded that our own government is protecting child
trafficking.

You only have to look at recent events surrounding convicted
pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein to see the truth in this.

However, despite how hard this has been- I got into this because
of my faith and I truly believe- despite everything that has and IS
happening- it was the right thing to do and I dont regret my
choices.

How this will all end is unknown to me- but at least when I face
God- and I believe we all will eventually- I will do so knowing I
did the right thing.

Thursday, 20 December

23:15

A series of extremely fast-moving storms have swept through
Sydney, dumping hail and delaying flights at the airport. UPDATE:
The NSW SES has received more than 1400 calls for help since the
storms began on Thursday afternoon. Sydney metropolitan was the
hardest hit area, Andrew Galvin from NSW SES told 10 Daily. There
have been about 350 requests for help in Hornsby in the city's
Upper North Shore, while more than 270 calls have been received
from Liverpool in the west. "We have had huge demand on the
telephones with a large number of calls," Galvin said.

22:28

Bitcoin is dead; Blockchain is
wasted; Crypto is gonethis is something the world has been told
over and over again.

The first ever article that
predicted a bitcoin death was published in 2010 by Tim Harford, an
economist. At that time, bitcoin was trading at $0.23. The
following year, after bitcoin surged to $7.80, Gizmodo Australia
wrote that the digital currency is dying. In 2013, New York
Magazine penned Bitcoin Sees the Grim
Reaper when bitcoin jumped above $100. Three months later, a
Medium post predicted a horrific death for the digital currency,
and it was well above $600 at that time.

Fast forward five years, the
predictions havent rested. The obituaries seem to have included
even the underlying technology of bitcoin, the blockchain, for
allegedly being totally-hyped and an utterly-waste. An article has
already hanged a rest of peace sign around its neck. The Week in
January discussed the death of crypto. And irony committed suicide
when even a bitcoin millionaire said that bitcoin is
dead.

That totals to more than 300 times
Bitcoin has been killed by the mainstream media, according to
99bitcoins death calculator.

Value-Driven Sentiments

The latest round of obituaries come
in the wake of crypto markets dismissal performance in 2018.
Once at a peak, bitcoin and every major and minor crypto asset fell
by at least 80%. The crash prompted many blockchain startups, which
raised funds in bitcoin-like assets via ICO in 2017, to either shut
down their operations entirely or layoff a considerable portion of
their workforce.

The Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) rejected nine Bitcoin ETFs. Goldman Sachs and NYSE
delayed their crypto-enabled products until next year. Nobel
laureate Nouriel Roubini called bitcoin a mother of all scams
before the US Congress and later patted his back when cryptos
crashed. Even a controversial figure, the Wolf of Wall
Street-famed Jordan Belfort, who scammed many in his notorious
financial career, took a potshot at the digital currency, saying
that it belongs to a scrapyard.

It seems that every time cryptos
suffer a financial tragedy, their critics get the moment to attack
them and predicting their end. The majority of complaints
crypto/blockchain sector is receiving during its downtrend is
related to their alleged overvaluation, hype, lack of demand and
unrealistic business models. While some of it is true to an extent,
owi...

22:24

A MAN has been arrested at Bulli and charged with multiple
offences following an alleged carjacking at Keiraville earlier this
month.

A 21-year-old man parked his Volkswagen Golf on Robsons Road,
Keiraville about 9.40am on Tuesday December 11, before he was
approached by an unknown man from a nearby parked Toyota
Aurion.

The 21-year-old man was allegedly struck three times with an
electronic controlled device, before the man took his car keys.

The unknown man drove from the scene in the Volkswagen Golf,
which was followed by the Toyota Aurion being driven by a
woman.

Following inquiries, about 9.15am yesterday (Wednesday), a
20-year-old man was arrested at Bulli and a 34-year-old woman was
arrested by Lake Illawarra Police District officers.

They were both taken to Wollongong Police Station.

The man was charged with armed robbery, steal motor vehicle, and
other offences allegedly committed in the Wollongong and Illawarra
regions, including assault occasioning actual bodily harm, larceny,
and fraud.

The woman was charged with robbery in company, steal motor
vehicle, fraud, and larceny.

22:17

A MAN will appear in court next year after the aggravated break
and enter of a Coledale home today.

The man entered a home in Squires Crescent at Coledale through
the rear door about 1.30am on Wednesday.

The man removed several items from the home, and after taking a
knife, entered the bedroom of the residents.

The female resident awoke and the armed man demanded property
from the couple.

Another adult resident in the home managed to contact police and
safely hide a 9-year-old child who was also in the residence.

When police arrived the armed man fled while the officers
checked on the welfare of the residents. An 18-year-old man was
later found inside a motor vehicle parked outside another home in
Squires Crescent. He was arrested without incident and taken to
Wollongong Police station.

No one was physically injured during the incident.

The man was later charged with aggravated enter dwelling with
intent, robbery armed with offensive weapon and enter vehicle
without consent of owner. He appeared at Wollongong Local court
today, where he was refused bail to appear at the same court on
Wednesday February 27.

21:51

A problem for the Australian antifa, and indeed for anti-fascist
groups in Europe and the US, is that few people and organisations
they oppose here have much to do with Nazism. ~ Chip Le Grand,
Antifa Australia goes for the Continue reading

21:19

The message today is clear it doesnt matter if it takes 40
years, 40 days or 40 minutes, we will track you down and you will
have to answer for your crimes, Detective Superintendent Daniel
Doherty said. GILLARD is apparently exempt. She is the sole person
for whom the...

21:18

One focus is in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, where my
book and film
on disaster capitalism examines Rio Tintos destructive mining
practices, and Im honoured to have some contributed some photos to
the report.

20:40

Facebook, Twitter and Google are so biased toward the Dems it is
ridiculous! Twitter, in fact, has made it much more difficult for
people to join @realDonaldTrump. They have removed many names &
greatly slowed the level and speed of increase. They have
acknowledged-done NOTHING! Donald J. Trump
(@realDonaldTrump)...

In many cases, the accusations have
not been adequately investigated by the dioceses or not
investigated at all, Madigans office said in a statement Wednesday.
Whats more, the statement added, the church often failed to notify
law enforcement authorities or state Department of Children and
Family Services about the allegations.

By choosing not to thoroughly investigate allegations, the
Catholic Church has failed in its moral obligation to provide
survivors, parishioners and the public a complete and accurate
accounting of all
sexually inappropriate behavior involving priests in Illinois,
Madigan said in the statement.

The failure to investigate also means that the Catholic Church
has never made an effort...

20:21

by Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, DO, AOBNMM, ABIHM Originally Posted at
Vaxxter.com I"ve been saying for YEARS that we need to raise $50k
to have every vaccine tested to see what is REALLY coming through
that needle. This clearly came into focus for me in 2009, with the
H1N1 SSwine flu fiasco. So many people were []

20:14

Any chance you might come up with a strategy to answer your
constituents' questions? How about a strategy to acknowledge our
emails and letters? Great to strategise with our Senate Candidate
Trish Botha and @IanGoodenoughMP on the year ahead! Trish is a
sensational role model for so many young women!...

19:19

So why do we suckers keep sending money over a BS story? The
claim Liberal MP and climate sceptic Craig Kelly made headlines in
November when he was caught on tape mocking "lefties" for
exaggerating the effects of climate change. Speaking at a local
party event, audio of which was...

19:01

Its 15 minutes into my debut of solo travelling and
Ive successfully sweated through a slimily thick layer of Mens
Sports 48-hour deodorant. Im crouched in the corner next to
the Student Flights booth with my head stuffed between my knees, Im
hyperventilating like a broken fan, and my visions sparked out into
a swamp of black.

Nobody is looking at me.

Everyone yanks their suitcases past me with eyes
intensely averted, regarding me as embarrassing traffic accident
or, perhaps, a very naked child throwing a tantrum. From the
trenches of my curled up body, I am locked in by sour-smelling
armpits, red sparks from kneecaps pressing deep into eyeballs, and
a piercing, circular ringing. Each shitty, short gasp of air I
belch in and out is like a prick into a party balloon; after a few
minutes, Ive both deflated and blacked out into a place of
malfunctioning calm.

The attendant at Student Flights looks over and asks
if Im settled enough to talk to her. With a face glistening with
sweat, snot, and tears, I dont believe I could look more settled if
I tried.

The problem is pretty straightforward; Im a fucking
idiot. The type that doesnt get a visa or checked baggage before a
flight to Vietnam; a
550-dollar-and-a-missed-flight-type-of-problem.

The Italian family standing next to me, all gold
necklaces and dangerously thin lips, shake their heads at the cost
Student Flights quotes me.

Oh honey, dont worry. We just lost a lot more.

There is something infuriatingly disrespectful about
a middle-aged man with a platinum credit card telling this to me.
But as Ive decided to play the
freewheeling-21-year-old-female-goes-global, I do nothing but bark
a short laugh and roll my eyes. Money! Who needs it! Did you just
lose a quarter of your savings too? What a hoot!

Whats worse is that this is not even the end of the
world. I cant just lie on the goddamn floor and ask security to
wheel me to the dumpsters. The rules of the game for being an
independent adult pretty clearly state that I will need to fix this
situation on my own in under 40 minutes with my own money, logic,
and internal time-bomb of anxiety; i.e mums not coming to get
me.

Naturally, my next mental step is to enter some sort
of internal game-show involving me being eliminated from my own
holiday and bank account. Not having much money or smarts, it seems
my only equipment is hyperventilat...

Abstract
"After European colonization, the ancestral remains of Indigenous
people were often collected for scientific research or display in
museum collections. For many decades, Indigenous people, including
Native Americans and Aboriginal Australians, have fought for their
return. However, many of these remains have no recorded provenance,
making their repatriation very difficult or impossible. To
determine whether DNA-based methods could resolve this important
problem, we sequenced 10 nuclear genomes and 27 mitogenomes from
ancient pre-European Aboriginal Australians (up to 1540 years
before the present) of known provenance and compared them to 100
high-coverage contemporary Aboriginal Australian genomes, also of
known provenance. We report substantial ancient population
structure showing strong genetic affinities between ancient and
contemporary Aboriginal Australian individuals from the same
geographic location. Our findings demonstrate the feasibility of
successfully identifying the origins of unprovenanced ancestral
remains using genomic methods."

18:05

Extreme heat wipes out almost one third of Australias
spectacled flying fox population, ABC Far North , 20 Dec 18, By Sharnie Kim and Adam
Stephen An extreme heatwave in far north Queensland
last month is estimated to have killed more than 23,000 spectacled
flying foxes, equating to almost one third of the species in
Australia.

The deaths were from colonies in the Cairns area where the
mercury soared above 42 degrees Celsius two days in a row, breaking
the citys previous record temperature for November by five
degrees.

Ecologist, Dr Justin Welbergen from the Hawkesbury Institute for
the Environment (Western Sydney University) is collating the numbers of
bat deaths and said it was the second-largest mass die-off
of flying foxes recorded in Australia and the first time it had
happened to this species.

17:10

Key allies Britain and Australia
criticize move and pledge to continue fight: Even without
territory, (IS) will remain a threat

Illustrative: US military forces in Syria in
April 2018 (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

WASHINGTON (AFP) The Islamic State group has been beaten in
Syria, US President Donald Trump declared Wednesday, as he
confirmed his stunning order to pull American ground forces from
the war-ravaged nation.

The momentous decision to withdraw, which runs counter to
long-established US policy for Syria and the region, blindsided
lawmakers, the Pentagon and international allies alike.

Weve won against ISIS, Trump said in a short video posted on
Twitter.

Weve beaten them and weve beaten them badly. Weve taken back the
land. And now its time for our troops to come back home.

17:09

Serious human rights abuses in the overseas operations of some
of Australias most prominent companies have been highlighted in a
major report by the Human Rights Law Centre.

Nowhere to Turn: Addressing Australian corporate
abuses overseas shines a spotlight on ten cases of human
rights violations involving Australian multinationals. The cases
cut across countries and industries, from ANZs involvement in
financing land grabs in Cambodia to BHPs role in the Samarco dam
disaster in Brazil and Broadspectrum and Wilson Securitys
responsibility for alleged sexual assaults on refugee women and
children held in offshore detention on Nauru.

The report includes direct testimonies from individuals harmed
by Australian corporate operations overseas, some of whose stories
have never previously been heard outside their communities.

Keren Adams, author of the report and a Director of Legal
Advocacy at the Human Rights Law Centre, said the cases paint a
stark picture of corporate wrongdoing with devastating consequences
for local communities.

"We have spoken with families in places like Papua New Guinea
who report being pushed onto the streets and having to wash their
kids in public toilets because Australian developers bulldozed
their homes and left them destitute."

"Australians will be shocked at the business practices of some
Australian companies in parts of the world where no-one is watching
them."

Ms Adams said that the actions of some companies were likely to
amount to serious criminal wrongdoing that should be prosecuted in
Australia.

"Reza Berati was beaten to death on Manus Island by G4S guards
in Australias offshore detention centre and yet the Australian and
New Zealand guards involved have never been prosecuted and the
company has never been seriously held to account. That sort of
impunity sends a strong message that companies are somehow above
the law."

Ms Adams said the cases highlight the need for urgent action by
the Australian Government to strengthen oversight over Australian
business operations overseas and improve mechanisms for communities
to raise concerns and seek justice in Australia when they cannot do
so locally.

"The global footprint of Australian companies is expanding all
the time, and yet Australia lags behind many other countries in
providing pathways to justice for some of the damaging consequences
of their activities," said Ms Adams.

The worst abuses often occur in parts of the world marred by
conflict or corruption and where it is impossible for communities
to obtain justice locally. The Australian Government should be
doing much more to ensure that Australian companies uphold the same
human rights and e...

16:51

I will be providing a detailed and up-to-date summation and
analysis of the Family Court Survey, but in the meantime, as a
Christmas greeting, I will lay out (anecdotally) some of what I
have learned in the last few months (and a thank you to those
tenacious people who have been educating me).

In Gumshoes articles on this Family Court sexual abuse issue,
many accusations are against fathers who have a predilection to
abusing their children and in some cases is sharing the child with
others. I am sure that the many good fathers reading these articles
may be feeling that their gender is getting a bad
rap. But, Id like to clear this matter up right
away.

The abuse of children in the system, and child protection is
acros...

16:41

Right now, the Indonesian military are carrying out a violent
crackdown in the Ndgua regency of occupied West Papua.
Reports have been emerging about the ongoing assault, which is
a reprisal over an incident involving the deaths of a number of
Indonesian construction workers. The Indonesian Armed Forces have
been reportedly bombing the highland region. While

16:23

By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim Following the drug-related
deaths of two young Australians at Sydneys Defqon.1
festival on 15 September, NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian vowed
she would do everything in her power to shut down the event. But,
after she had a moment to reflect, the premier decided to instead
establish an expert panel to

16:23

Nepalese momos as you like - fried, steamed, soupy, chilli - at
The Momos Hub in Chippendale. Nepalese restaurants are not in
abundance in the CBD. Setting out to change this , The Momos Hub
has set up shop along the busy connector of Regent Street near
Central Station to deliver these cousins to xiao long bao to manti
and ravioli, the filling wrapped in pastry specialties found
all

16:03

Following unrest at Melbournes Parkville Youth Justice Centre in
mid-November 2016, Victorian authorities sent 15 youths to
continue their detention at the Grevillea Unit inside Barwon
Prison: an adult maximum security facility said to the be the
states toughest. The incarceration of the children in the adult
facility caused public outrage. And it took two Victorian

16:00

Weekly Geo-political News and
AnalysisSecret head of
world finance, Cardinal Pell, fired and big changes
comingBy Benjamin
Fulford, White
Dragon Society2018-12-17Last week Cardinal
George Pell was found guilty of sexually abusing children by an
Australian court and was subsequently fired by Pope Francis because
he was elderly.https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2018/12/12/cardinal-pell-top-advisor-pope-francis-found-guilty-historical-sexual-offensesThis is huge news in
the secret world of finance, because Pell was the person in charge
of financial matters at the Vatican and thus was a secret
controller of most world government leaders, P2 Freemason and CIA
sources say. This is because when most world rulers take power,
they get a visit from an official of the Vatican Bank who hands
them a bank book with an astronomical number written in it (a
billion dollars or more for big countries; less for smaller
countries). They are then told, Welcome to the world of the rich,
and are gently reminded that if they refuse to accept the money
they will be removed.This is the choice
of silver or lead that has allowed the Vatican P2 Freemason Lodge,
run by descendants of the Caesars, to secretly rule most world
governments. The 200 leaders who last week affirmed the fraudulent
carbon causes global warming agreement are all slaves of this
system, P2 Freemason and CIA sources agree.https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/12/14/18139402/cop24-climate-change-katowice-pol...

15:53

NSW Coalition energy minister slams federal governments
continued refusal to restore emissions component of the National
Energy Guarantee, vows to continue to fight for the critical
matter. The post NSW slams federal Coalition over extraordinary
refusal to reinstate emissions in NEG appeared first
on RenewEconomy.

15:17

I bought Giles Autys
Post-Modernist Australia at the Connor Court Christmas party,
read it on the plane up to Sydney and as soon as I reached Sydney,
headed down to Abbeys Books where I bought his Culture at Crisis Point [2016] which I have now gone
through cover to cover. Both were extraordinary.

I have been reading Giles Auty religiously since my days living
in the UK where I first came across him in The Spectator, the same
place I discovered Mark Steyn and at the same time. I was probably
already onside by then, but reading what he wrote no doubt helped
push me over to this side of the divide where I have been ever
since. I continued to read him in The Spectator when I arrived in
Australia and then when he all too briefly wrote for The
Australian. We are so on the same side of the fence that it is
uncanny. As he would perfectly well understand, there are few
others like ourselves so that running across someone who reads your
own thoughts and then puts them into words is always remarkable
because it is so rare.

Both are available through Connor Court. If
you are thinking of presents, this is a very good place to find
them.

15:01

EXCLUSIVE: He is a senior member of one of the nation's most
famous Aboriginal families, and is widely considered to be one of
Australia's most powerful Indigenous and Catholic advocacy leaders,
as well as a 'good guy'. But just last week, Graeme Mundine, was
unmasked as a prolific and dangerous paedophile after being found
guilty and sentenced for assaulting five young boys over a period
of five years. It's undoubtedly a major story of great relevance
but one that, for some reason, has so far been ignored by the
country's media and political class, and almost everybody else too.
Our publisher, Serkan Ozturk, digs deeper.
[READ MORE]

14:08

Australias national security and intelligence agencies must be
more accountable and transparent, the Human Rights Law Centre has
told an independent national review.

The review is being conducted by former senior diplomat and
public servant Dennis Richardson and will comprehensively review
the entire body of national intelligence and security
legislation.

Watching the major parties rush through the decryption laws
despite their extraordinary reach and in the face of major
criticism from civil society and business, is a timely reminder of
the need for greater safeguards, Human Rights Law Centre Executive
Director Hugh de Kretser said.

Since September 11, intelligence agencies have been given
sweeping new coercive powers to access our private information
without a warrant, lock up people not suspected of a crime, punish
whistleblowers and more. Agencies have received a massive increase
in resources. Yet accountability and transparency measures have
lagged badly.

Unlike every other Western democracy, Australia has no Charter
of Human Rights. Along with a political culture in which both
parties are afraid to protect rights in the national security
context, this has contributed to a situation where Australia now
has national security laws which undermine rights to a greater
extent than any of our counterparts like the UK, NZ and Canada.

The appalling case of Witness K highlights the need for
reform. We need proper limits on the operations agencies can carry
out and greater protections for public servants and others who
speak up about government wrongdoing.

The former intelligence officer, known as Witness K, and his
lawyer Bernard Collaery were prosecuted earlier this year for
revealing that the Australian Government had sent spies, posing as
aid workers, to bug the cabinet room of the fledgling nation of
Timor-Leste during sensitive negotiations about oil and gas
revenue.

In its submission, the Human Rights Law Centre made
recommendations including:

requiring that the intelligence agency watchdog report
wrongdoing to a parliamentary committee instead of to a
Minister;

giving the parliamentary committee greater oversight over
intelligence agencies and having members of the crossbench sit on
the committee;

better protecting whistleblowers who expose government
wrongdoing;

ensuring proper judicial oversight over activities, such as
detention orders, carried out by intelligence agencies; and

applying freedom of information laws to intelligence
agencies.

...

13:58

By Jeremy Salt | American Herald Tribune | December 17, 2018
Australia and Israel are white settler states, established
violently over the heads of the indigenous people, without the
benefit of any treaty arrangement. A land without people for a
people without land was the Zionist lie. Terra nullius was the
Australian white settler equivalent. []

13:33

Jayson Hastie had his game down pat, or so he thought. The
25-year old from Albion Park, south of Wollongong, set up a fake
profile on under the name of Alex on the bisexual and gay social
networking and dating website Grindr, before getting to work. His
profile soon attracted the attention of an older

11:31

At any time in NSW alone, there are around 150 children
accommodated in hotels under the care of Family and Community
Services (FACS). Its no different at Christmas time. While many
kids will wake up wondering what surprises are wrapped under the
tree, these kids will wake up with relative strangers carers
some

11:07

10:57

By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim Its estimated that
around 100,000 patients are using cannabis medicines across
the country. And even though the federal government legalising
medicinal cannabis close to three years ago, most of these patients
are forced to access their medicine on the black market. Despite
government moves to cut some of the red tape around

10:47

This track caught our ears with its wonderful horns, and grand
swoon of a sound. Its the work of Sydney songwriter East Denistone
and comes from his 2018 EP While You Still Draw Breath. Its more on
the indie rock tip, in the vein of The National and Grizzly Bear
but it incorporate elements of
Continue reading

10:06

20 December 2018: Academic Kyla Tienhaara argues
in
The Conversation that fossil fuels have no future but
companies are using ISDS to sue governments as they act to reduce
carbon emissions.

She notes that the US Westmoreland coal company is using the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to sue Canada because
Alberta province is phasing out coal-based power. The provincial
government offered major utility companies transition payments to
switch to gas and renewable energy. Westmoreland did not receive
payment, because coal mining companies have no role to play in the
energy transition. The company is claiming unfair treatment.

09:42

The school motto at Rowena Public a tiny school in the
far north of NSW is Respect For All. And by all, its possible they
mean everyone except black people and Jews. Chris Graham
reports.

As small schools go in NSW, they dont get much smaller than
Rowena Public, a tiny campus in an equally tiny town in the far
north of the state.

Rowena has two teachers, a teaching principal and 25 students.
One of those students is Indigenous, according to the MySchools website.

Geographically, Rowena is 140 kilometres west of Moree, a town
with a chequered history of race relations of its own it was the
focus of the Freedom Rides in the 1960s, when Aboriginal activists
turned up to try and end racial segregation in the wealthy cotton
town.

For its part, Rowena enjoys none of Morees size, and little of
its wealth. It has a population of around 200, a pub, the school of
course, a general store and a public swimming pool. But despite its
size, Rowena has also managed to put itself firmly on the racism
map, after the local school decided to wrap up the 2018 year with a
dress up day for students celebrating famous people from
history.

And thats how one student, a young girl, arrived at Rowena
Public earlier this month dressed as Adolf Hitler, replete with
swastikas and a ridiculous moustache.

A picture from Rowena Public Schools Facebook page,
which was closed down this week.

Its also how a second student, a young boy, turned up the same
day dressed in full blackface. He was apparently trying to honour
the iconic black American athlete Jesse Owens, whod theyd recently
learned about during history lessons.

Obviously, children are children. They generally dont mean to do
spectacularly racist and/or ignorant things thats what their
parents are for. On that front, allowing your child to turn up to
school dressed in full Nazi regalia, or blacked up, is pretty hard
to fathom, but its the actions of the schools leader, principal
Paul Cecil, that make this story truly remarkable.

Not only did Mr Cecil a teaching principal with responsibility
for students from Years 3 to 6 not send the children
home to change, but he posed with them for photographs.

...

09:05

As is tradition the Timber and Steel Editor-in-Chief Gareth Hugh
Evans brings you his top 25 tracks of the year. As always hes tried
to only pick one song per artist with the occasional album track
trumping the singles from the same release. We think youll agree
its been an amazing year for folk, roots, []

08:44

December 20th, 2018 By George Wright Guest writer for Wake Up
World Australia is a beautiful and unique place. Cut off from the
rest of the world and only colonised in the last few centuries, the
animals and environment have been largely untouched for thousands
of years. Many species and plants are unique only to []

07:48

Why is Centrelinks robo-debt system still operating? The
evidence that many have been unjustly saddled with debt is out
there. Its a scandal that its still going on.

Robo-debt is still in operation, because this poor excuse for a
government that we have, is deliberately targeting vulnerable
people, to discourage them from signing up for Newstart and other
benefits.

This cant be blamed on just the technology. Even if does It is
wrong to take away human oversight. The real problem is that it is
founded on reversing the principle that the debt must be proved
before being issued, to issuing the debt first and then forcing the
recipient to prove their innocence.

This may not be easy and some of those facing a debt may not
know what they can do about it. It is inevitable that injustices
will occur, and we cant believe that those designing the system
were unaware of this.

This scam has also been used as a cover to privatise Centrelink
services. Consequently, people getting in touch to sort out a
problem are increasingly being shunted to private contractors,
provided with incentives to cut even more people off. Their brief
is to allow the least possible to be paid out.

Now an expert has hit out against the robot-debt system.

Prof Terry Carney, who is a former member of the Administrative
appeals Tribunal (which hears Centrelink appeals), has written in
an academic journal that the robo-debt scandal has only been
permitted by failings across a plethora of institutions.

How the robo-debt program has failed people is
exposed, and on appeal many of the issued debts had to be
either wiped off completely or substantially reduced.

Centrelinks robo-debt system is a form of illegal extortion
allowed by failings across aplethora of democratic and legal
institutions, he says.

Its the second time Carney, who helped oversee the writing of
Australias social security laws, has used academic journals to
condemn
the system as illegal this year.

Carneys
last paper said robo-debt involved the enforcement of illegal
debts that in some cases were inflated or non-existent, an
allegation that was forcefully rejected by the Department of Human
Services. The rejection was not backed by evidence to show
otherwise.

This time, Ca...

07:41

South of Tasmania, hundreds of undersea mountains mark the deep
ocean floor. Now, a monthlong survey of these seamounts in and
around Australias Huon and Tasman Fracture marine parks has
revealed a spectacular range of deep-sea species, from feathery
corals and tulip-shaped glass sponges to bioluminescent squids and
ghost sharks. The survey team has also uncovered more than 100
previously unnamed species that are likely new to science. The
seamounts within the marine parks occur at depths of 700 to 1,500
meters (2,300 to 4,900 feet). These mountains are home to
cold-water corals that are slow-growing, fragile and threatened by
fishing, deep-sea mining and climate change-induced variations in
sea temperature and acidity. But accessing these harsh, dark,
high-pressure depths is extremely hard. So scientists and park
managers went aboard the Investigator, a research ship thats
part of Australias Marine National Facility, and used a special
camera system designed by staff at the Australian governments
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
(CSIRO) to see what lies thousands of feet beneath the oceans
surface. The deep-tow system, weighing about 350 kilograms (770
pounds), has four cameras secured within high-strength aluminium
housings, and a fiber-optic cable that feeds real-time footage of
the deep-sea floor back to the ship. During the monthlong
exploration, the researchers surveyed 45 seamounts using the
deep-tow cameras, voyage chief scientist Alan Williams of
CSIRO said in a statement. They covered 200 kilometers (124 miles)
and collected 60,000 stereo images and some 300 hours of video. The
footage captured hundreds of corals,

Known for exceptional mimicry,
stick insects have evolved a range of egg-laying techniques to
maximize egg survival while maintaining their disguise including
dropping eggs to the ground, skewering them on leaves, and even
enlisting
ants for egg dispersal. Scientists have now combined knowledge
on these varied techniques with DNA analysis to create the best map
of
stick-insect evolution to date. Contrary to previous
evolutionary theories based on anatomical similarities, the new
analysis finds the first
stick insects flicked or dropped their eggs while hiding in the
foliage. It also finds that geographically isolated populations of
stick insects are more likely to be related than those with similar
features. The research,
published in a special issue on stick insects in Frontiers in
Ecology and Evolution, takes us one step closer to
understanding these enigmatic creatures.

While the evolutionary history of most insect groups is well
documented,
stick insects have been hard to classify. Our new analysis has
made great strides, showing that the evolution of stick and
leaf insects cannot be solely based on anatomical features,
says Dr James A. Robertson, based at the Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service and affiliated with the Brigham Young
University, USA. Linking their wide-variety of egg-laying
techniques to their evolutionary history,...

Last weekend,
Amazon workers demonstrated against productivity requirements
at
Amazons Shakopee, Minnesota fulfillment center. Over 200 people
protested in the suburban area. Their demonstration ended with a
march toward the front entrance of the warehouse, where over a
dozen police vehicles immediately surrounded the protest and
broke it up.

Earlier this year,
Amazon was forced to negotiate with the Awood Center, a
non-profit which organized
Amazon workers in opposition to the unfair speed of work as
well as against the companys decision to deny religious workers
time to pray. Minneapolis, near where the fulfillment center is
located, is home to the largest East African immigrant community in
Minnesota and the Awood Center reports that 60 percent of the
Amazon workforce is East African. The East African workers are
predominantly Muslim and were not given enough time to take prayer
breaks.

04:00

State of the climate report points to a long-term increase
in the frequency of extreme heat events, fire weather and
droughtAustralia is experiencing more extreme heat, longer fire
seasons, rising oceans and more marine heatwaves consistent with a
changing climate, according to the Bureau of Meteorology and
CSIRO's state of the climate report.The report, published every two
years, measures the long-term variability and trends observed in
Australia's climate. Related: 'Like opening a fan [...]

03:53

Australian government officials enforce vaccinations for school
children by way of removing government funds from those parents who
dont comply with mandates. The law, termed no jab, no pay, is
considered one of the most...

03:42

These are the last of the Australian spring flowers sent in by
DavidinOz and that makes me a bit sad. Its been a treat for me to
have so many bright, happy flowers to work with during the short
gloomy days of late Canadian autumn. In 2 days time it will
officially be another winter to endure Up Here, but that also means
that its another summer to enjoy Down Under and Im hoping that
David will have a chance to share some of the flora that grows in
Australia during their hottest season. Hint, hint.

Thanks for spreading so much joy, David.

David Brindley, all rights reserved

David Brindley, all rights reserved

David Brindley, all rights reserved

David Brindley, all rights reserved

David Brindley, all rights reserved

03:42

Another volatile session for US markets, but then we should
expect it now that there are fewer and fewer houses running
positions. The break of the psychological $50 price level in WTI
oil yesterday, was one of the key reasons given for today Asian
weakness. Shanghai closed the session down a little over 1% and was
heavily weighed by the energy sector. However, the tech heavy Hang
Seng closed the day 0.3% higher, which has probably taken the
NASDAQ as its lead as that too found solid demand from fresh buying
interest these past few days. The Nikkei also suffered from falling
energy prices and saw a demand for the Yen. Now trading close to
recent highs, the Yen is in danger of electing a 111 handle. Both
the ASX and SENSEX closed almost unchanged, but were encouraged as
trading off of their intraday lows. The slowing down in China is
affecting the region, but probably more so the chief resources
exporter Australia.

Europe was happy that Italy has managed to settle on its 2019
budget with the number accepted at 2.05%. Italian debt tightened
14bp and now trades at 2.8% for 10yr paper. The FTSE MIB gained a
little over 1.5% for the day, aided by the financials sector as
banks saw a healthy recovery in some of these papers. However,
although the 1.6% is good for Italy it is worth remembering the
index is still down over 13% for the year. The Euro found support
following the Italian budget agreement and managed a gain of +0.5%,
taking it to a 1.14 handle. Core European indices (CAC and DAX)
have managed around a +0.4% return, but its the UKs FTSE that saw a
1% rally today. News that GSMB (Glaxo) was to split division helped
shares to rally over 5% and that helped todays FTSE performance.
However, the GBP has traded heavy in comparison to the Euros
strength and that has assisted the stock index. A strong US open
ahead of the FEDs announcement has also boosted confidence for the
European close.

US markets saw the initial rally once again rejected, despite
having traded over 350 points higher. The 700 point swing
materialised following the FED Chairs comments that 2019 will see
their balance sheet shrink. The turn produced new lows for the
year, but more surprisingly, still only sees a small increase in
the...

The authorwrites, To protect itself from
the next major hurricane, Texas will have to build storm-surge
barriers, shore up wetlands, buy out residents who live in
vulnerable areas, rethink development plans and raise the first
floors of existing buildings, suggests a sweepingreportprepared for Gov. Greg Abbott and released
Thursday.

Trump Orders Rapid Withdrawal From Syria in
Apparent Reversal (Jimmy)

The authorwrites, Planning is underway for
a full and rapid withdrawal of US troops from Syria, a US defense
official told CNN Wednesday. The decision, which would be a
reversal from previously stated US policy, was made by President
Donald Trump, who has long signaled his desire to get out of Syria,
the official added.

Chuck Schumer Re...

00:54

Yet another team of researchers has concluded that the
much-debated global warming pause which preoccupied climate science
around the turn of the century simply did not happen.

If their work continues to win support from other researchers,
it will leave those who have argued that the pause was real with
some explaining to do.

Some scientists have argued that there was a pause, or hiatus,
in the rate of global warming recorded from 1998 to 2013, and that
this cast doubt on the conclusion of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) that the available evidence showed the world
had continued to warm.

Other researchers said variously that the pause had never
started, or blamed changes in the trade winds. Many said the
pause (or its absence) were anyway irrelevant, because the
long-term global warming trend was continuing unabated.

Global warming did not pause, but we need to understand
how and why scientists came to believe it had, to avoid future
episodes like this

Now an international team of climate researchers, after
re-analysing existing data and studies, says there has never been a
statistically significant pause.

This conclusion holds, they say, whether considering the
supposed pause as a change in the rate of warming in observations,
or as a mismatch in rate between observations and expectations from
climate models. Their findings are published in two papers in the
journal Environmental Research Letters.

In other words, they say, there is no reason to doubt that
warming continued as mainstream climate scientists argued it would,
nor to doubt the methods they used, including climate modelling.
But there are reasons to ask why the non-existent pause was so
enthusiastically promoted by some scientists and others.

22:09

WITH its wide verandah and Hamptons-style white and grey timber
colour theme, Stanwell Parks beach caf is an eye-catching addition
to the popular foreshore area.

The keys for the newly built caf have been handed over this week
to the new tenant, with the new business expected to be operating
before the end of the year.

Wollongong City Council started work on the new beach caf in
July after the demolition of the old kiosk building and residence
that had occupied the site for more than 50 years.

The new caf has an elevated covered dining deck overlooking the
park, a paved outdoor seating area and a kiosk and kitchen. Two
fully accessible public toilets are also a key component of the new
design that was influenced by community feedback.

I think it looks fantastic and Im pleased this project has been
completed on schedule and on budget. However, perhaps even more
importantly, I hope the community gets much enjoyment from this
building, he said.

We know how much this building is loved the community made that
clear when we engaged with them about the new design and they told
us they wanted us to keep the much-loved original kiosk sign and to
make it a feature on the new bu...

21:59

Wollongong Council general manager David
Farmer, Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery, State MP for
Heathcote Lee Evans and Wollongong Cr Leigh Colacino celebrate the
opening of the Grand Pacific Walk link between Stanwell Park and
Coalcliff. Photo: Wollongong City Council.

WITH postcard perfect views over the ocean and providing a
much-needed key pedestrian link between Stanwell Park and
Coalcliff, the first stage of the Grand Pacific Walk has opened in
time for Christmas.

The 3.5km link from Stanwell Park to Stoney Creek bridge,
Coalcliff, and includes a viewing platform with expansive views
along the coast and out over the Pacific.

Grand Pacific Walk is a long term project, with new sections
proposed to connect with the existing footpaths and shared
pathways. Eventually the walk will link Stanwell Park in the north
to Windang in the south.

Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said the Grand Pacific
Walk is a major project to encourage an active and healthy
lifestyle for community members.

We encourage all community members to take part in a walk on the
new section of the Grand Pacific Walk. It offers great views up the
coast to the Royal National Park, as well as joins the northern
villages of Stanwell Park to Coalcliff and the Sea Cliff
Bridge,...

19:46

The discovery of a new fish at a famous WA fossil site
is in such good condition that it provides an exciting fresh
glimpse into the evolution of species from 380 million years ago.
The new fish - named Pickeringius acanthophorus (honouring the late
Museums Victoria fossil collection manager David Pickering) - lived
in the Late Devonian Period. Its beautifully preserved fossil
skeleton was discovered by Flinders Universitys Professor John Long
at the Gogo Formation, in the Kimberleys of Western Australia. This
has become a world famous fossil site, containing superb
3-dimensional preservations of entire fishes in limestone nodules,
and has so far yielded more than 50 species.

Pickeringius, about the size of a sardine, was one of the earliest
ray-finned fishes a lineage that accounts for more than 98% of all
living fish. There are about 30,000 ray-finned fish species alive
today, but in the Devonian period, they were greatly outnumbered by
other fish groups, with fewer than 30 species described
worldwide.

The new find is especially significant because the braincase of
this fish is exquisitely preserved. Devonian ray-finned fishes have
mostly been found squashed flat, so the new discovery will enable
CT scans of its skull at ANU, allowing palaeontologists to
digitally render its endocast, and provide important information on
early fish brain evolution. Only two previous Devonian ray-fins
(Mimipiscis, from The Gogo Formation, and Raynerius, found in
France) have had their brains subject to this level of detail.

The Pickeringius is distinctive for having enormous spiracular
openings on the top of its head, though these present a mystery to
palaeontologists. Most ray-finned fishes of this period had minute
spiracles, and these are now vestigial or lost in most modern
forms. The only living ray-finned fishes with well-developed
spiracles are African bichirs, which use them to breathe air at the
surface. Alternatively, modern rays (which are not ray-finned
fishes) use their spiracles to breath while they are on the seabed
(with their mouths and gills pressed under their body).
The fish is also excessively prickly, hence the name acanthophorus
(which means spine bearer). The top of its skull is covered in
little conical denticles. The underside of the...

18:59

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has reissued a warning to
traders to ensure they declare their cryptocurrency profits when
reporting their annual revenues. The ATO has warned Aussie crypto
traders numerous times in the past but the issue is now reaching
fever pitch. Cryptocurrency regulatory requirements across Western
nations tend to be quite lax when

17:40

We have made progress on many fronts this year, working closely
as always with our pro bono and community partners.

Highlights over the year include:

Our lifesaving legal action to evacuate children and their
families from Nauru.

Playing an important role in fixing laws that would have
crippled the ability of charities and community groups to advocate
for law and policy change.

Our work pushing governments to raise the age of criminal
responsibility and stopping routine strip searches and solitary
confinement in jails.

Helping to achieve the decriminalisation of abortion in
Queensland.

Launching the campaign for an Australian Charter of Human Rights
and supporting the campaign for a Queensland Human Rights Act.

Helping to secure new laws to tackle modern slavery.

We end the year proud of our achievements and with renewed
resolve to tackle the work that remains unfinished, and in
particular ensuring safety and freedom for every single one of the
1,100 innocent people still held on Manus and Nauru after five long
years.

The Human Rights Law Centres success is only possible because of
the support of our partners and people like you.

We thank everyone who supported our work this year and look
forward to working together in 2019.